Research
is improving the ability of prevention
professionals and advocates to
understand the root causes of substance
abuse among youth. Youth are influenced,
and sometimes even encouraged to engage
in harmful and risky behaviors as a
result of many different risk factors
that are rooted in community conditions,
including:
- Easy availability of alcohol,
tobacco and other drugs
- Commercial and media messages that
glamorize use of alcohol, tobacco
and other drugs
- Community norms and cultural
messages that support alcohol,
tobacco and other drug abuse
- Inadequate laws and policies that
fail to discourage substance abuse
- Community systems and services
that are inadequate to address
substance abuse
ESN Prevention Services staff work
with local coalitions, organizations,
and groups to look at substance abuse
problems and plan strategies to address
them. These preventionists use a
four-phase process called the Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) to
assess, plan, implement strategies, and
evaluate results. The process includes
assessing local risk factors that
encourage substance abuse, as well as
the protective factors that are shown to
reduce these problems. When determining
how to address a particular issue, ESN
preventionists refer to Best Practices
which have been researched for
effectiveness.
The community-based prevention work
of the ESN Prevention Services staff
currently includes the following
coalitions, organizations, or efforts in
ESN’s three-county service area.
Will County
- BEST (Building Esteem Support
Teams)
- Bridging Athletics and Academics
- Coalition Toward a Tobacco Free
Will County
- Engaging Youth for Positive Change
(EYPC)
- Hispanic Latino Coalition
- Joliet Alliance for Youth (JAY)
- Joliet Township High School YESS
(Youth Experiencing Success in
School)
- Reed Custer Healthy Communities Coalition
- Safety Training to Encourage
Profitable Service (STEPS)
- Southwest Coalition For Substance
Abuse Issues http://www.southwestcoalition.org/
- Wilmington Coalition for a Healthy Community http://www.wilmingtoncoalition.org
Kendall County
- Kendall County Anti-Tobacco
Coalition http://www.co.kendall.il.us/health.htm
- Kendall County Methamphetamine
Task Force
- Kendall County Network Project (KCNP)
- Kendall County Youth Service Board
(YSB) http://www.kendallcountyysb.org
- Plano Community Coalition for
Character
- Safety Training to Encourage
Profitable Service (STEPS)
- Targeting Underage Drinking with
Environmental Strategies (TUDES)
- Yorkville Wellness Committee
Grundy County (in cooperation with
Grundy County NTTF)
- Grundy County No Tolerance Task
Force (NTTF) http://www.nttf.org
- 13th Judicial Family
Violence Coordinating Council
- Grundy County Interagency Council
(GCIC)
- Morris Ministerial Association
- Safety Training to Encourage
Profitable Service (STEPS)
- Coal City Community Cares Initiative http://www.communitycaresinitiative.com
ESN Substance Abuse Prevention
Services are funded by a grant from the Illinois
Department of Human Services Bureau of
Substance Abuse Prevention.
NTTF is funded through the Grundy County
Sheriff’s Office. |
